


Pink Petals and Wild Berries

by LoonyLuna25



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pregnant Sex, Secret Relationship, Supportive Booker, Team as Family, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:42:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29807205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoonyLuna25/pseuds/LoonyLuna25
Summary: Booker and Nile keep texting while he’s in exile and over the course of the first year of his exile they fall in love. They agree to meet up, and Nile successfully slips away from the others and goes to have a romantic weekend with him in Paris. A few weeks later she gets morning sickness and her period is two weeks late. Slowly she realizes she might be pregnant. Is she going to keep the baby? How will the team react? Will Booker come back from his exile?
Relationships: Booker | Sebastien le Livre/Nile Freeman
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	1. Down Hill Road

**Author's Note:**

> Story slightly based on this kinkmeme:
> 
> https://theoldguardkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/10263.html?thread=3538967#cmt3538967
> 
> Booker and Nile keep texting while he’s in exile and over the course of the first few years of his exile they fall in love. They agree to meet up, and Nile successfully slips away from the others and goes to have a romantic weekend with him in Paris.
> 
> "She thinks she’s gotten away with hiding it from the others, except then she starts feeling sick in the morning...and her period doesn’t arrive on time.... (maybe they thought that immortal women couldn’t get pregnant so they didn’t use protection, idk)
> 
> She’s pretty upset about it at first—not because she doesn’t want kids, and Booker’s kids in particular, but because she isn’t sure how the others will react or if they’ll agree to rescind his exile....but the team surprises her with how supportive they are. Supportive team and supportive papa Booker, yay!
> 
> Also, please make the baby immortal, cause otherwise it would break poor Booker I think."

The third morning in a row Nile was sitting with her back against the bathtub. She tried to catch her breath after she threw up and asked herself what was wrong with her that it happened again. She  
couldn't remember that she ate something weird and she thought being sick would have been over.  
But she felt sick and still a little nauseous, so the assuming that immortal people couldn't get sick was wrong. She didn't know what she was supposed to do now. She could wait and look how it will go or she could visit a doctor, but that wasn't a good idea at all.  
Nile considered talking to her family, but they wouldn't be a great help. The last time And had a cold, everyone thought she was dying and everyone had freaked out, a few days later she was fine, but maybe it would go like this again, just because she was throwing up now.  
The only option left was to use google. But Nile was sure that most of the results on the internet would say that she has cancer. The thought let her giggling slightly. She stood up on wobbling legs  
and brushed her teeth to get rid of the bad taste in her mouth. She didn't feel like she would threw up again, but she still waited a few minutes sitting on the edge of the bathtub.  
Slowly she walked back in her room, crawled under the blanket on her bed and reached for her phone. The internet said it could be Viral Gastritis or Food Poisoning, but she just shook her head  
at the results, because the rest of the days she had been feeling fine. She typed something else in the search bar and her eyes got glued to two words. Morning sickness.  
It was like the puzzle in her head completed itself, because it could only mean she was pregnant. She threw up only in the morning, she missed her period for two weeks and the last time she had sex was seven weeks ago. Nile assumed she was only a few weeks pregnant, but she got no other explanation for her symptoms.  
Nile's heart began to beat faster and her hands were sweaty when she thought about what it meant for her and the others and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend was whole different story and she didn't know how to explain it to her family. She realized that she screwed up in thinking she didn't need any protection when having sex. Why had she been so naive?  
Nile took a few deep breaths to calm down her nerves. She needed a plan, but first she needed to take a pregnancy est to be very sure. And there came her first problem, how would she get a pregnancy test without the others noticing? Well, they didn't noticing that she was gone for whole weekend somewhere else than she told them. Nile said she went on a wellness trip for a weekend, because she had craved alone time and her family didn't mind at all. But the truth was she had spent  
the whole weekend with her boyfriend.  
It was strange to call him her boyfriend, because Joe and Nicky never use this term at all. They always used some pet naries that variated from day to day and they were married, so technically they were  
husband and husband. But she wasn't over nine-hundred years old and lived in the modern world.  
She will call him her boyfriend, done.  
The thought of telling them about her boyfriend gave her a headache and she panicked a little bit more. Would they accept their relationship? Would they be upset? She didn't like when Nicky got  
upset, because he only got one time really upset and she didn't want to experience it again. But he was always calm and reserved, maybe he was the easiest to convince. Joe agreed most of the time  
with Nicky and Andy was still the boss, so she could say something against it. But all of this was only suppositions and Nile was scared now.  
Nile considered for a moment to pack her things and just ran away, but where could she go? No, that was a stupid idea and she knew all her others ideas were stupid too, because they only came to her mind out of her panic.

Nile decided that her best option was to get dressed and hoping for the best to come in her situation. Her first goal on this day was leaving the house without the others noticing or at least without a chance to ask her where she was going. She knew she couldn't lie straight to their faces in her panicking condition. She mumbled a few prayers while she put on a high-waisted jeans and a dark red long-sleeve, she didn’t need a jacket in the warm air of May.  
She opened the door carefully and without making any noises and listened if she would hear anything that made it unsafe for her to leave her room. The hallway was silent, she could only someone moving in the kitchen around. But no one could see her from the kitchen. She tiptoed down the hallway. She didn’t close her door, once she would be outside it won’t matter. She could make the pregnancy test at any restroom in a restaurant or café. The prayers repeated in a whisper from her lips didn’t bring the wished results, because she heard footsteps appearing behind her.  
“Fuck,” she cursed under her breath and squeezed her eyes shut for a second. Now she could run out of the house or just face the person. She picked the second option and turned around on her heel. There stood Joe with a slight smile, but his eyes showed confusion.  
“Am I wrong or did you try to sneak out of the house, Nile?”  
She gulped and felt like a little school girl that got caught doing something bad. She weighted her options again. She had learnt that it was always good to stay near the truth, but only reveal so much information that she wouldn’t seem suspicious to the other person.  
“I will go to the drugstore quickly. I just thought you were still sleeping. I’ll be back in one hour,” Nile explained to Joe and tried to let her voice sounding steady. Joe still frowned, but only nodded his head.  
“Nicky is making pancakes, so you can have breakfast when you come back. Well, have fun then.”  
Nile exhaled relieved when he walked down the hallway towards the kitchen, but before she could reach for the door knob, he came back.  
“Are you alright?” She asked to appear that she wasn’t in hurry.  
“Yes, I'm okay. You know | just want to accompany you. We could stock up the medical supplies for Andy and we could stop at the grocery store, maple syrup is empty.”  
Joe grabbed his jacket and slipped into his shoes while she opened the door biting the inside of her cheek. She could say no and demanding that she wanted to go alone, but she didn’t get the energy for any explanations or more lies right now. There was just the inner urge to confirm or decline her guess of being pregnant. 

Nile was happy that they were staying in a small town somewhere in the south of Georgia. She was capable of speaking the language and she wasn’t an extraordinary person here. Last year they had spent a couple of weeks in Japan and there were people with dark skin very rare. The Japanese had watched her with curiosity and a few had wanted to take a picture with her, but here she was just a normal woman.  
Joe and she walked in silence down the road that lead into the small mall which contained a drug store and grocery store, a boutique, a book store and a flower shop. These shops were nothing special, but they got here everything they needed, but she hadn't any hopes that they would stay here very long. Just a few more weeks until a new missions will start. For the first time in over a year that she stayed with Andy, Nicky and Joe, she wasn't sure if she could join them on the next mission. The only thing on her mind was the upcoming pregnancy test and she realized that a pregnancy would change everything. She would be a mother and would have responsibility for newborn. Was she ready to have a child of her own? Well, she was 27 years old, that wasn't too young to be a mother.  
Nile looked at Joe and thought if he would judge her, dissapointed by what she did and disgusted when he'd find out who the father of her unborn child was. And there was again the problem with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend wasn't really the problem, but more if her family would accept them as a couple. They were still his family too.

"Don't you want to know what I want to buy so early in the morning?" Nile asked Joe out of curiousity and bit immadiately herself on the tongue for saying those words. Joe turned his head to her and he raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner.  
"You're really confusing me this morning, Nile. It's ten thirty actually, not so early anymore. I didn't ask myself until now what you want to get in the drug store. You're behaving a little weird today, but maybe you're just having your time of the month, you're often weird then."  
She gasped surprised. "What do you mean?"  
Joe chuckled and shrugged. "Don't worry, sunshine. You get moody sometimes and want to watch some series like Grey's Anatomy all day and eat chocolate for every meal and stay in bed with a heating pad. That's alright. The best is when you're in a bad mood you can kick ass like a pro."  
Nile frowned at him and smiled slightly. "Thank you then for the compliment, I think. But no, I'm not on my period."  
“Are you sure? It's been a while since the last time you were cuddled up in a blanket with a heating pad on the couch.”  
Her eyes widened up and she snorted shortly.  
“Of course I'm sure. Are you tracking my cycle or what?” Her voice sounded annoyed and Joe still watched her confused and worried.  
Nile was mad about herself and how the conversation turned out. It wasn't Joe's fault, but now she was mean to him and she felt sorry for her harsh words.  
“What happened, Nile? You're not yourself today."


	2. We Are Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the lovely comments and kudos :)
> 
> Today, you will meet a very supportive Joe.
> 
> I don't really know in which direction this story will go. I f you have any ideas or wishes, just tell me :)

Nile wasn’t sure how she should decide. She could tell him the truth, short and pain free, like ripping off a Band-Aid. She knew the whole time since she started texted secretly with her now boyfriend that she had to tell the others about their relationship, but she hadn’t expect it would be so early. Her pregnancy was the just the top of the iceberg and all the rest that was underneath just let to today.  
She screwed totally up and she didn’t know how she should explain everything to Joe. If he would feel betrayed by her? It was true that she had lied, and that showed she didn’t trust her family enough. Oh, she felt so bad for lying and hiding behind the lies. But their relationship was still so new and romantic and exciting, and she didn’t want to ruin everything. She didn’t know if her boyfriend was ready to stand by their relationship and now she asked herself if he was ready to be a father. She was definitely not ready to be a mother, but if there was really a little baby inside of her womb, then she’ll keep the baby. Her mama raised her to be a strong woman and she couldn’t punish the baby, just because she was too stupid and forgot to use protection. She could do it on her own, but she didn’t want to do it on her own. She wanted her boyfriend by her side and raising the child with him together. 

But all of this perfect dreams, she could only have if she would start to tell what was going on. She looked in Joe’s warm, brown eyes and her heart clenched, because he accepted her regardless. He accepted and welcomed her as a part of his family and now he was the closest to a brother she had. “Would you ever think badly of me? I mean, like I am a bad person,” Nile mumbled with a shaking voice and she felt how the first tears streamed down her cheeks, but she brushed them quickly away with the back of her hand. She didn’t want to cry in front of Joe or anyone.  
“Oh my dear, why should I think ever badly of you? You’re a kind soul, with a good heart and you were always the nicest since I met you. When I first had met my Nicold or when I think back when we had met Andy and Quynh, well, it took us a very long time to be friends and longer to fall in love with Nicold. It’s easy to talk with you and be your friend. I enjoy hanging out with you, talking about art and history, and our training sessions are a lot of fun.”  
Nile took a deep breath after Joe ended to praise her. He was truly her friend; otherwise he hadn’t said anything of what he told her. That was now or never.  
“I like to spend time with you too and our training sessions are great, but the training has to stop for a few months from now on.”  
The frowning expression was still on Joe’s face. “How come so? Are you planning to leave us for a while? Is this why you are behaving so weird, because you didn’t know how to tell us that ou want to be alone.” “No, no, no. I don’t want to leave. But the training sessions will be too dangerous and I can’t risk it in my condition. That’s one of the reasons I need to go in the drugstore.”  
Joe grabbed her right arm and swirled around so she looked directly in his face. She saw that Joe was really concerned and she was sad that she was the reason for it.  
“Okay, I am happy that you aren’t leaving. But in what condition are you? I’m sorry, Nile, if I have struggles following your words, but I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me. Just say it,” Joe demanded in a soft voice and Nile nodded slowly.  
“Maybe I’m pregnant,” she replied in a whisper without looking into his eyes. His fingers twitched on her shoulders and he tried to process her words his mind. Joe let himself time before he answered and for Nile was the waiting agonizing long.  
“I didn’t know that it was possible for an immortal woman to receive,” he spoke out his thoughts. “Andy told me once that she couldn’t have children and I never talked with Quynh about it. Are you sure you're pregnant?”  
Nile glanced at him from under her lashes and exhaled slowly. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath the whole time. She shook her head firmly. “I want to buy a pregnancy test and then I will see.”  
Joe made an appreciative noise. “Back in my days a woman had to wait at least three months before she could have been sure she was with child. | thought you had to visit a doctor to confirm a pregnancy today.”  
“I can go to a doctor, but a test from the drugstore will do it for the beginning.” 

Nile couldn’t tell that she was relieved, because Joe only knew the main problem from her in the moment. She just waited for the question who the father was and she would answer Joe honestly. She was more afraid of how he would react.  
“Okay, then we are going to buy the test and you make it. And then... well, I don’t know what you are hoping for. Do you want it to be positive?”  
Nile shrugged helplessly her shoulders. “I want to know it at least. I don’t know if I will be sad if it would be negative or happy if it’s positive.”  
“I understand. Your feelings are twisted. O promise you’re hot alone in this. I am here and we can tell the others, if you want to, but we don’t have to. “  
Nile’s view went blurry again. She was overwhelmed how supportive Joe was in this situation and he would be there for her. She felt stupid for lying at him in the first place. The tears weren’t unnoticed by Joe.  
“Hey, sweety, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay,” he cooed and wrapped his arms around her upper body to pull into heart-warming hug. He rubbed her back up and down to calm her down.  
She was impressed that Joe was the optimistic one today, usually Nicky got this role. He was careful most of the time, but he appreciated his tries to soothe her.  
She hugged him back and Joe pulled her closer to his chest. “Sometimes things happened in our life that we can’t control. I assume you didn’t think that you could end up pregnant when you were intimate with the man, right?”  
Nile opened her mouth to say something, but she trust her words, so she just shook her head as best as she could while pressed to his chest.  
“That's okay. Maybe you’re not pregnant and you worried yourself for nothing. But if ou’re pregnant... I don’t know... Do you want to contact the father of the baby?”  
That wasn’t a yes or no question for her, she didn’t need time to think about it. If she was pregnant, she would phone her boyfriend right away and tell him what was going on. He deserved to know when he was going to be father.  
Nicky used to speak all the time about faith. Maybe it was faith that she got immortal and fell in love with her boyfriend. Then it was definitely faith if she was pregnant now. She started to believe in faith and she still believed in god and that everything happened for a specific reason. That was the way god chose for her and she will go it.  
“I will contact him. He is no stranger to me. He has to know.”  
“No stranger huh? Will you tell me who it is? I won’t judge you if it’s Copley,” Joe said with no offense. Nile inclined her head and watched Joe shocked.  
“No! Copley could be my dad. I... it’s not him. It’s a little more complicated.”  
“Did you meet someone over the dating app you talked about with Nicky?”  
“I don’t know how to tell you or even Nicky or Andy who it is...,” Nile stopped her talking when she saw that Joe laughed quietly. Now she was confused and didn’t understand what was so funny.  
“You should know that Copley told me that you had often contact to Booker over the last months. He didn’t mean to tell me on purpose, because he assumed we would all know it. I knew it for a few weeks now, but I didn't tell the others. I thought you might want to do it yourself, when you're feeling ready.”   
Nile’s breathing increased and her heart began to race. Joe knew it all the time and didn’t say anything. She couldn’t understand how he couldn’t say anything. Her lower lip began to tremble when the fear started to creep through her veins again.  
“Joe... I’m sorry... please...,” she stuttered and looked at him with pleading eyes. “I didn’t mean to do something behind your back...”  
“Shhh... it’s okay. You’re not involved in what he decided before we met you. It wasn’t meant for you and maybe you forgave him his mistakes when we couldn’t. I'm mot mad with you, because you reached out to him and be his friend or lover or girlfriend. That’s your decision and I have to respect that.”   
Nile was surprised, shocked, overwhelmed by his words. Joe accepted that she was with Booker and it felt like a heavy stone fell from her chest. She could hear that Joe was honest, because he didn’t sound like he was upset or disappointed.   
“I thought you would hate me or worse,” she whispered when Joe hugged her for a second time. But she still feared what Nicky and Andy would think about her. Would they be upset? For now she felt relieved, but her stomach still hurts when she thought about everything that could possibly happen.  
“I will never hate you, I promise. And I don’t hate Sebastien.”


	3. The life we could have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go again :)
> 
> We start to explore the twisted world of betrayal, pain, family bonds and friendship.

I will never hate you, I promise. And I don’t hate Sebastien.” 

Nile’s laugh came deep from her throat, it was short and sounded offended. How could he say he didn’t hate him. Booker had betrayed them, sold them to Merrick and Dr. Kozak and they had been hurt so bad. And now he told her he didn’t hate him.  
She couldn’t say if she would hate him, if they had kidnapped her too. Yes, at first she had been very upset of what happened, but she didn’t know anyone of them enough at that point that she could have judge Booker for what he did. She understood now that Booker betrayed them, because he was so hurt. His soul was torn into pieces and he had no one who could have fixed him.  
It broke her heart the first time she saw the pain in his eyes. Every time he had laughed or smiled it didn’t reach his eyes, there was always just pain. She admitted that she thought the decision to send him into exile for hundred years was wrong. But a year ago she had no right to decide what happened to him. Andy had made this very clear to her. Of course, Andy had been grateful that Nile came back to save them, but she didn’t want Nile to be involved in a decision that had nothing to do with her. When Booker had planned to sell them to Merrick, he didn’t know that Nile would join them and the plan was already settled. Nile knew how devastated Booker was because of what he did to the others, the pain and fear he had caused.  
Booker had told her all this thoughts and his feelings in the long nights she texted with him or sometimes they spoke on the phone. She missed him since the one weekend they had together. When she was with him everything felt natural and perfect, she felt safe and loved, and for this she loved him back. Slowly she began to believe that faith brought her here for Booker. Maybe she was the one who could fix his broken soul and could help him to be happy again. But the last thing she thought was that all of this would involve a baby. 

Nile shook her head when she pulled away from Joe’s embrace. She wished she could say that she believed his words, although they sound very honest. The last year had been hard and took a toll on her. She had to cope with Andy’s loss of immortality and Booker was a missing piece in their team. She wasn’t him and couldn’t replace him. The first weeks after the incident Joe and Nicky weren't themselves, they took a few weeks off and went somewhere to be alone. Nile didn’t know if they could ever heal inside, if the wounds on their souls slowly turned into scars. Healing started with forgiveness. She had learned that Joe wasn’t good in forgiving and Nicky tried to see the good in everything, but it seemed that he couldn’t forgive this time. But it wasn’t enough when you just said it once. If you truly wanted to forgive, you had to do it every day, maybe a thousand days until it would get easier. 

Andy on the other side was rare with emotions. Joe and Nicky could you read like an open book, but Andy had always a mask on her face. But Nile had noticed that she didn’t laugh as much as people normally do. She was sad about her loss of immortality and she lost Booker, her best friend and brother. The toxic thing she did was locking the pain away. She didn’t want to feel it or cope with it. Maybe Andy feared that the pain would eat her alive.  
Everything what was left — pain. Every one of them was broken inside and Nile was done to think that she couldn’t change it. Yes, she missed her family, but she got a new family and she wanted to feel happiness again. She wanted to have a life, a future with her family and her boyfriend.  
I1 don’t know how to feel about you knowing that I have contact to Booker,” Nile explained to Joe and stepped a little away. Suddenly she felt the urge to bring space between them.  
Joe nodded once. “We were surprised when Copley told us. But like I said we don’t judge you and we aren't mad at you.”  
“You aren't happy about it either. I can see it in your face. You might tolerate it, but you wished I had asked you for permission.”  
Joe was taken aback. “You don’t need our permission for anything, Nile. You're still your own person. We wouldn’t stop from making any decision or what you want to do with your life. You choose tot with Booker and that’s okay. Now I know Booker is mentally not stable. But we thought he was fine except from the alcoholism.”  
“He’s not okay, Joe. He is suffering and mentally ill. He has depression and anxiety. His nightmares don't make it better. He is still dreaming of Quynh, so as I. He needs help and I decided to help him.” 

Nile watched how the realization hit Joe hard. Now she knew that Joe wasn’t aware of Booker’s condition and she was sure that Andy and Nicky didn’t know it too. Andy spoke barely about Booker, only if you asked her directly. But when she did, she talked of him like family and it will break her heart if Nile would tell her the truth about Booker.  
“You see, I don’t think that he wanted you to get hurt or punish you for something. It might be true that he’s jealous of what you and Nicky have. But both of you aren't the ones to blame. Think about what he’s been through. Yes, you’re older and lived longer than him and experienced more than ! could think of. I bet there had been a lot of tears and pain in over nine-hundred years, but you got each other. Booker lost his wife, his kids, his life. Maybe destiny was wrong, when it chose Booker to be part of us immortals. But he’s still here and we are family like all of you always tell me, so I think we have to help him, at least I will do.” 

Joe rubbed with one hand over his face and looked up in the sky. He took a few deep breaths, because Nile’s words were true, and the truth hit him like a punch in the guts. He just saw Nicky’s and his pain the whole time, the betrayal from his brother and he didn’t want to want to know why Booker did it. He just wanted to punish him and let him feel the same pain that caused the manic bitch of a doctor at Nicky and him.  
Of course, he told Nile earlier that they didn’t hate him and it was true, he couldn’t hate him when he still loved him as his brother. They had been best friends since he couldn’t really remember, but there was this burning anger inside him. How could have been Booker so selfish? Joe understood that he wasn't selfish, he just wanted to find a way to end his pain and in this process he was willing to pull them down with him. Maybe he had thought he did them a favour, because Andy was tired of her long life, but Nicky and he didn’t want to leave their immortality behind. All time of the world with Nicol6 would never be enough for him.  
“I was blind, so blind,” he mumbled and his eyes flashed back to Nile. There stood this young woman, not aware of what life would bring her and yet so determined to fight for a better life.  
“Sometimes we are all blind. But since I know Booker better, I want to help him. He’s lost in his pain and I want to see this pain gone. I’m convinced he deserves better. And now I want to change our future more than ever, because maybe there’s a baby inside me.” 

Joe knew that Nile was right that something must change if she was really carrying Booker’s child.  
“Yes, you're right, I admit that. But first we should be sure that you’re pregnant. I suggest we buy the test and you make it and then we will talk with Nicky and Andy.”  
Nile agreed with Joe’s plan and they began to walk in silence again. Both of them were deep in their thoughts after this life-changing conversation. The whole situation was too twisted to find a solution right now, but they will figure it out somehow.  
Nile desired to be with her Sebastien again. She missed him so bad and had promised that they would see each other soon. If the pregnancy test would be positive, she would fly to Paris immediately and tell him in person that was going to be a father. Maybe it wouldn’t be his first child, but it would be their first child and she hoped that he might be happy.


End file.
